Ments



(N Modgl.)

J. B. FISCHER.

IGE LOWERING APPARATUS.

Patented May 25, 1886.

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Att orney UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH B. FISCHER, OF HAMILTON, OHIO, ASSI GNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO SAID FISCHER, JAMES OF SAME PLACE.

E. CAMPBELL, AND JESSE O. SMITH,

ICE-LOWERlNG APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 342,433, dated May 25, 1886.

Srrinl No. 189.141. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH B. FISCHER, of Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ice Lowering Apparatus, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to runways or chutes arranged in connection with ice-houses to serve in lowering the ice from its position in the to house to the level of railroad-cars, wagons, or other receiving device upon the ground-level, the object of my invention being to produce a I a runway of simple and cheap construction, I which will receive the ice which may be placed 1 upon it at the higher levels and automatically lower it to the lower levels with rapidity, and without the intervention of human help, and without causing loss by breakage of ice.

Runways for ice-houses, as at present constructed, are expensive, cumbersome, difficult to move from one ice house to another, diificult to adapt to different ice-houses. They involve the labor of many attendants, and they cause much loss by the breakage of ice.

My improvements will be readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front view of an ice-house fitted with a runway illustrating my improvements, and Fig. 2 is a vertical section through one of the chutes.

In the drawings A indicates one of the usual ice-houses; B, the usual long sectional door, reaching vertically to as high a level as the ice will be packed in the ice'honses; O, the upper section of this door, opened for the removal of ice; D, a vertical frame-work erected close alongside the ice-house wall; E, a vertical series of inclined chutes, of the usual construction, supported by the framework, the successive chutes of the series being inclined in opposite directions; F, pivots at the lower ends of these chutes, where the chutes attach to the frame-work; G, movable supports, by which the upper ends of the chutes are attached to the frame-work, such supports being illustrated as bolts or pins attaching the ends of the chutes at any chosen one of a vertical LII until it reaches the bottom.

series of holes in the frame-work; H, continnations of the lower ends of the chutes, formed of short sections of suflicient length to receive a cake of ice, and so pivoted as to be capable of having their inner ends brought into correspondence with either ol'the contiguous chutes, and so counterbalanced as to normally form continuations at the lower ends of the chutes;

I, stop boards disposed at the pivot chutes H, and serving to limit the motion of the ice upon these chutes, these boards being attached 5 either to the framing or to the chutes; J, an ordinary skid arranged within the ice-house,

by means of which the workmen within the house may run the ice onto the chute at the end of the skid; K, the lower off-bearing chute, 6 by which the ice finally reaches the wagon or railroadcar', or other position near the ground level; and L, one of the pivot-chutes H, shown as tipped downward.

Ice placed upon the upper chute will slide down that chute onto the appropriate one of the pivot-chutcs and against the appropriate stop-board. The chutes E are very short and hence, with ordinary inclination of chutes, the ice will not obtain momentum enough to strike the stopboard with sufficient force to be broken. hen the cake of ice reaches the first pivoted chute, the chute will be over balanced by the weight of the ice, and it will tip and form the upper prolongation of the so succeeding chute, and will deliver the ice to the succeeding chute, whence it passes in the same manner through the succeeding chutes Vhen the ice in the ice-house has, by removal, become so low- 8 ered that the skid J has an inconvenient upward inclination, the upper end of the upper chute may be lowered to the next pin-hole, and so on until the ice in the ice-house has been reduced to the level,wl1ich will permitit 0 to be delivered upon the succeeding chute below, in which case the one above is no longer used. The chutes areshort, and, consequently, very light and cheap, and the framework, having but light load to support, may be of 5 comparatively light structures and may be bolt-ed together in sect-ions, so as to be easily removed and erected where required. There will be as many of the chutes E employed as the height of the chosen ice-house may re- IOO quire, and in erecting thestructure, in chang- I work, a vertical series of chutes inclined in ing from one ice-house to another, only as many of the vertical series of chutes need be erected as the house will require.

I claim as my invention 1. In a runway for delivering ice from an ice-house, the combination of avertical framework, a vertical series of chutes inclined in the same direction and supported by said frame-work, similar chutes placed intermediately in the series and inclining in the opposite direction, stop-boards disposed beyond the lower ends of the chutes, and chutes disposed below said stop-boards and adapted to deliver the ice to the upper ends of the contiguous succeeding chutes.

2. In runways for delivering ice from icehouses, the combination of the vertical framework, a vertical series of chutes supported by such frame-work and inclined in the same direction, pivoted at one end and vertically adjustable at the other end, st0p-boards beyond the lower ends of the chutes, and chutes disposed below the stop-boards and adapted to deliver the ice to the upper ends of the contiguous lower chutes, substantially as and for the purposerset forth.

3. In runways for delivering ice from ice houses, the combination of a vertical framethe same direction, intermediate chutes inclined in the opposite direction, stop-boards beyond the lower ends of the chutes, and pivoted counterbalanced chutes disposed below said stop-boards and adapted to normally form continuations of the lower ends of the chutes, and to tip under the weight of ice, so as to form continuations of the upper ends of the contiguous succeeding chutes, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

i. In runways for delivering ice from icehouses, the combination of a vertical frame work, a vertical series of chutes with alternate opposite inclinations pivoted at their lower ends. and vertically adjustable at their upper ends, stop-boards beyond the lower ends of the chutes, and pivoted counterbalanced chutes disposed below said stop-boards and normally forming continuations of the lower ends of the chutes, and adapted to tip under the weight of ice and form continuations of the upper ends of the contiguous succeeding chutes, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JOSEPH B. FISCHER. Witnesses:

J. W. SEE, W. A. SEWARD. 

